Some shareholders in the capital market on Tuesday blamed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the slow take-off of the e-dividend policy.

They stated in separate interviews in Lagos that the SEC had not put any enlightenment programme in place to educate investors on the policy.

Mr Boniface Okezie, President of Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, said that the failure of shareholders to comply with the requirements was due to ignorance about the policy.

Okezie said that the capital market regulator had failed to brainstorm with registrars, service providers and banks on the problems being encountered in remittance of dividends.

He said that many shareholders had not shown interest in the e-dividend policy because some banks insisted that customers should have current accounts for payment of dividends under the new dispensation.

Okezie advised that SEC should liaise with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that all commercial banks would accept both savings and current accounts for e-dividend payment.

Another shareholder, Mr Bayo Adeleke, said that some investors, especially those outside the cities, were not aware of the e-dividend policy and the processes.

Adeleke, who is the Secretary of Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, urged SEC to educate shareholders in three major languages to reduce the incidence of unclaimed dividends.

He said that the inability of SEC to adequately educate the investing public had retarded the growth of the policy, launched in February 28, 2008.

Mr Timothy Adesiyan, another shareholder, said that bank alert charges had also discouraged some investors with meagre dividends from subscribing to the policy.

Adesiyan also said that some registrars could not implement the policy because some shareholders did not return the e-dividend payment forms.

E-dividend payment is the process of crediting shareholders’ accounts within 24 hours after a company pays dividends to its shareholders.